The role of law enforcement in the multi-jurisdictional management of Great Lakes fisheries

​Utilization of a spatial decision-support tool for the restoration of Chinook salmon in the Columbia River

Molly J. Good, Terrie Klinger, and Charles "Si" Simenstad

Abstract: Managers, policy-makers, and practitioners often utilize spatially-explicit decision-support tools for assistance and guidance in managing highly dynamic and spatially diverse environmental systems. Here I explore the use of the Landscape Planning Framework as an example of a decision-support tool that supports a systematic, landscape-based approach to fish habitat management in the Columbia River estuary. I identified the importance of landscape features or habitat attributes to the growth and survival of ocean-type, juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and ranked them each on a scale from 1 (greatest importance) to 12 (least importance). I used these rankings to test the relative function of aquatic channel landscape features in identifying areas for potential restoration to benefit salmon stocks that rear in the estuary. In a series of five spatial trials I estimated the cumulative contribution of potential salmon habitat restoration areas by summing different combinations of rankings and grouping the ranking totals in equal-interval low (lowest potential restoration function), medium, and high (highest potential restoration function) categories. I calculated the abundance, length, area, and edge density of equal-interval categories, analyzed in the form of polygon layers, for purposes of comparison. Regardless of the combination of rankings and grouping totals, the equal-interval high category returned the lowest metric values. My results indicate that the set of sites characterized as areas of high possible restoration value is most constrained in the equal-interval high category. As a relatively new decision-support tool, the Landscape Planning Framework serves as a useful instrument for efficient management of an estuarine landscape to more effectively support its inhabitants.

Master's Thesis, University of Washington

​Reversals and migratory movements of Atlantic salmon smolts

Molly J. Good, John F. Kocik, and Graham Goulette

Abstract: Researchers have given considerable attention to research areas including the history, distribution, and behavior of salmonids in scientific articles, literature reviews, and analyses completed over the last few decades. However, there is little information or supporting data that focuses on migration movements and patterns that integrate salmonid behavior, physiology, and environmental factors. This literature review comprises findings from an examination of peer reviewed sources, highlighting Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and including species with similar ecology: steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Fisheries research biologists believe that declines in fish populations have made a better understanding of salmon movement imperative. Acquiring further insight into these migration patterns may lead to more successful and sustainable salmon management strategies.

This report is a working paper and should not be considered an official policy paper issued by NMFS.